The Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group works to help people whose rights have been violated and investigates cases involving such abuse, as well as assessing the overall human rights situation in Ukraine. The Group also seeks to develop awareness of human rights issues through public events and its various publications

Administrative resource is used in Nikolayev

Nikolayev mayor Vladimir Chayka met with journalists. He informed the mass media about using against him the administrative resource (misuse of administrators influence for election agitation), since some administrators did not want him to be the head of the city.

First of all the journalists were familiarized with the report of the mayor about the activities of power structures. As it became known, the mentioned report would be distributed among Nikolayev dwellers to enable everyone to read about the achievements and drawbacks of the local rule.

V. Chayka also made public his appeal, in which the confirmed the intention to fight for the mayors post at the coming election. The six-year plan of the development of Nikolayev is already realized. Eighteen months of the attempts to realize the plan testify about its success.

For example the incomes to the city budget increased twice, many important for the city objects were reconstructed. Gas pipelines were laid to several districts. This work is being continued.

These achievements, V. Chayka told at his press conference, served as a stimulus for him to fight again for the post of Nikolayev mayor.

Too tell the truth, the oblast authorities had a grudge this decision.

The oblast state TV and radio company refused to sign the contract for elucidating the activities of the city administration. They refer for some technicalities.

By the way, a similar reasons were given when the retranslating news and other features of radio "Liberty" was stopped by the radio station "Mykolaiv". The "technicalities" are still not removed, although almost a year has passed.

Yet, V. Chayka intends to fight for his rights and has already sent the letter to Igor Timofeev, the editor-in-chief of the radio station "Mykolaiv", with the request to give him and his deputies transmission time.

"I am just curious how they will try to refuse me. It happened with us before and we shall live through it now", the mayor said. "Is it not the so-called administrative resource, when newspapers get orders to endorse only one candidate for mayors post, whom the oblast authorities like?"

In the opinion of Yuri Didenko, the editor-in-chief of the newspaper "Ukrainsky Pivden", "The current election is not quite gentlemanly, it is cruel and uses dirty PR technologies and the administrative resource. As the press conference testified, mayor Vladimir Chayka was the first, who suffered from it in Nikolayev".